Council

Hundred and Sixteenth
Session

Rome, 14-19 June 1999

NOTE ON THE METHODS OF WORK
OF THE COUNCIL

The text of this Note was adopted by the Council at its Sixtieth Session
in June 1973 1.

FUNCTIONS OF THE COUNCIL

1. The Council should concentrate on general policy issues pertaining to the
achievement of the objectives and functions, spelled out in the Preamble and Article I of
the FAO Constitution.

1.1 The Council should in particular focus on those of its functions relating to the
general policy of the Organization, as set out in Rule XXIV of the General Rules of the
Organization (GRO), and in particular:

a) the world food and agricultural situation;

b) FAO's Programme of Work and Budget;

c) extra-budgetary activities of the Organization, normally by means of a separate
agenda item for this purpose.

1.2 The Council should periodically carry out a multidisciplinary evaluation of the
activities of the Organization in each area of the Programme of Work and Budget, including
the extra-budgetary activities related thereto, on the basis of reports from its
appropriate subsidiary bodies.

1.3 The Council should delegate authority to the Programme and Finance Committee as
might be necessary.

1.4 In reviewing the activities of its subsidiary bodies, the Council should ensure
that:

a) they give the necessary attention to the matters falling within their respective
mandates;

b) they do not duplicate each other's work; and

c) their discussions are not repeated in the Council, except when this is necessary to
enable a decision to be reached.

1.5 Except for the sessions which immediately follow a Conference session, the Council
normally should establish a Committee-of-the-Whole to deal with administrative (including
financial), constitutional and legal matters. However, on advance recommendation of the
Independent Chairman, the Council may decide that such a Committee need not be
established.

FACILITATION OF DISCUSSION

2. The following measures should be adopted to streamline the Council's procedures, and
to make the maximum use of the time at its disposal.

2.1 In addition to the provisional agenda, the Secretariat should also issue a
provisional annotated agenda in which it should indicate which items are expected to be:

a) those for discussion and/or decision by the Council;

b) those for information only.

The agenda should not be splintered in such a manner as to cause overlapping of
discussions.

2.2 Subject to compliance with the first sentence of Section 3 below, any Council
member who wishes to open a discussion on an item presented for information only, should
inform the Secretary-General as soon as possible, and in any case before the meeting at
which that item is scheduled (see also para. 3.4 below).

2.3 In respect of items on which a decision is required (para. 2.1 (a) above), the
Chairman, if preliminary debate indicates that there is likely to be difficulty in
reaching agreement, should suspend the debate and allow for informal consultations or set
up a sessional working party to examine the matter and make recommendations to the
Plenary. A similar procedure should be adopted when necessary by the Chairman of the
Committee-of-the-Whole, in consultation with the Chairman of the Council.

2.4 With the exception of the provisions of paragraph 2.3 above, debate on any item
should normally be completed before debate on the next item begins.

DOCUMENTS

3. Documents for Council sessions should be issued in sufficient time for Member
Nations to examine them before the session, and in a form that shall facilitate the
Council's consideration.

3.1 Unless the timing of the sessions of the bodies concerned makes it impossible, all
documents (other than the summary of the proposed Programme of Work and Budget, as
provided in paragraph 4.1 below) should be dispatched at least two months before the
opening of the session in question.

3.2 Sessions of other bodies whose reports must be considered by the Council should, as
far as possible, be held in sufficient time to meet the deadline in paragraph 3.1 above.

3.3 To facilitate the classification in paragraph 2.1 above, all reports of subsidiary
bodies and other documents should be prefaced by a list of points requiring the Council's
consideration, and where appropriate by a summary.

3.4 The points requiring the Council's decision should be divided into:

a) those where a subsidiary body has made recommendation(s) for endorsing by the
Council;

b) those on which no decision has been reached, and on which a decision by the Council
is required.

In respect of a), there should be no discussion in the Council unless a member desires
clarification or amendments to a subsidiary body's recommendation, in which case he should
inform the Secretariat in advance of the meeting, as provided in paragraph 2.2 above.

3.5 Reports of subsidiary bodies and other documents which do not contain points
requiring the Council's consideration and/or decision should be presented for information
only.

3.6 Reports of subsidiary bodies should, where appropriate, include a section on FAO's
extra-budgetary activities in their respective fields.

PROGRAMME OF WORK AND BUDGET

4. The Council should comment more effectively on the draft Programme of Work and
Budget.

4.1 A summary of the proposed Programme of Work and Budget should be circulated to
Member Nations not less than three months before the opening of the first Council session
in the Conference year.

4.2 Member Nations may submit comments in writing for circulation as
"limited" documents at the beginning of the Council session. Such comments must
reach the Secretariat not less than one month before the opening of the session.

4.3 The Council should discuss the summary draft Programme, taking into account the
written comments of Member Nations, and should recommend to the Director-General such
changes as it deems necessary.

4.4 Following the Council's discussion, the Director-General in accordance with GRO
XXXVII should finalize his draft Programme of Work and Budget for presentation to the
Conference. Any changes recommended by the Council, but not accepted by the
Director-General should be circulated as an addendum to the draft.

INTRODUCTIONS

5. The summaries contained in the documents should provide adequate introductory
material, and therefore oral introduction should not normally be necessary.

5.1 Secretariat introductions should be made only when important new developments have
occurred since the relevant document was issued.

5.2 There should be no introductions by the Chairmen of the Programme Committee, the
Finance Committee and the CCLM of their Committee's reports as a whole. At the discretion
of the Chairman of the Council, they may be invited to give introductions to major items.
Where possible one introduction only should be made for items covered by the Programme and
Finance Committees.

5.3 Committee Chairmen and the Secretariat should have the right of reply to the points
made in the debate.

INTERVENTIONS AND RECORDS

6. Lengthy and/or repetitious statements should be avoided.

6.1 Speakers should not restate views already expressed by others, unless extended
debate is required to develop a consensus. In these cases, speakers should confine
themselves to indicating their agreement with a previous speaker, and not repeat what has
already been said.

6.2 If observers from Member Nations not members of the Council wish to speak on any
item, they should as far as possible inform the Chairman before discussion of that item
begins.

6.3 Member Nation's statements should not be reproduced and circulated by the
Secretariat, unless specifically decided by the Council.

6.4 Observers from international organizations may submit, before discussion of the
relevant item, written statements to the Chairman, in English, French or Spanish, for
circulation; oral statements (if any) should be confined to short summaries thereof.

6.5 The participation of representatives of organizations of the United Nations system
in FAO sessions will continue to be governed by existing procedures and practices.

6.6 At the end of the debate on each item, the Chairman should as far as possible
summarize the discussion, with a view to highlighting the main trends apparent in the
debate. This summary should be taken into account by, but should not be binding on, the
Drafting Committee
(see para. 7.1 below).

6.7 Verbatim records shall be kept of Council Plenary meetings, but not of the meetings
of the Committee-of-the-Whole.

COUNCIL REPORTS

7. Council reports should be as concise as possible, but include all decisions reached
by the Council.

7.1 A draft report should be prepared by a Drafting Committee with Secretariat
assistance.

7.2 Reports of the Council (as well as of its subsidiary bodies) should have, as far as
possible, a standardized format.

7.3 Reports should carry at the beginning a list of the Council's decisions, directives
and recommendations, including recommendations to the Conference of subjects for policy
discussions.

7.4 Reports should provide a brief indication of the main views expressed and decisions
reached on the various agenda items.

7.5 Reports should not include unsupported suggestions unless the Council has so
directed.

7.6 Reports should not generally record the views of individual delegations by name.
However, any Council member that so insists may have recorded in the report his
reservations to any specific conclusions of the Council.

7.7 The Secretary-General should prepare, keep up-to-date and make available to Member
Nations an Index of Decisions of the Conference and Council.

7.8 The Secretary-General should inform the Council, normally through an information
document, regarding the implementation of the decisions taken at the preceding session of
the Council.

PARTICIPATION

8. Every endeavour should be made to ensure effective participation at Council sessions
by all members.

ADHERENCE TO THE METHODS OF WORK

9. Steps should be taken to ensure that delegates and the Secretariat are acquainted
with the methods of work of the Council.

9.1 These methods of work should be printed and distributed with the provisional
agenda, and should also be available to delegations during the sessions of the Council.

9.2 The Chairman should, at the beginning of each session, draw attention to these
methods of work.

9.3 Appropriate sections of these methods of work should be applied to the subsidiary
bodies of the Council.

ANNEX

RULES APPLICABLE TO COUNCIL PROCEDURES

1.The main rules pertaining to the structure, functions and procedures of the Council
are to be found in Article V of the FAO Constitution, in Rules XXII to XXV of the General
Rules of the Organization, and in the Council's Rules of Procedure. However, other
provisions of the Basic Texts of the Organization are also relevant. Therefore, a
detailed list of the appropriate subject matters and relevant provisions is provided
below.2

1 At its Sixtieth Session the Council
adopted this text after re-examining the decisions taken at its Thirty-fifth Session (June
1961) as amended at its Forty-third Session (October 1964). It had also reviewed the
recommendations of the Intergovernmental Ad Hoc Committee on the Methods of Work of
the Council which it had set up at its Fifty-sixth Session (June 1971) and had taken into
account its own detailed comments on those recommendations made at its Fifty-ninth Session
(November 1972). See CL 60/REP, paras 170-179 and Appendix G.

2 "Const." stands for
Constitution; "GRO" for General Rules of the Organization; "RC" for
Rules of Procedure of the Council; "Vol. II" for Volume II of the FAO Basic
Texts. Numbers in parentheses refer to the pages in the English version of the 1992
edition of the Basic Texts.